HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Heading to work on Memorial Parkway early in the morning and having to stop at a traffic signal with no cross traffic is annoying, reader Mitch Harbin said in an email.

Harbin said that for a week when he was driving to work on Memorial Parkway between 4:45 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. he had to stop for a red traffic signal at Mountain Gap Road. He said the signal stays red for "an unusually long time."

"It seems as though this light isn't timed like the other lights just before and just after, especially for this time in the morning," Harbin said. "It's annoying to have to stop when there is no traffic intersecting at this light during this time. A response from the city traffic department would be nice."

I forwarded Harbin's email to the city's Traffic Engineering Department and received an immediate response from Dennis Thompson, the traffic improvements project manager in the department.

"Traffic engineering will have a signal technician inspect the equipment to see what is causing the signal to change when no traffic is present," Thompson said.

Knox Creek bridge

John Schroen asked in an email about the status of replacing the bridge on Balch Road across Knox Creek.

Schroen said that recently the contractor only had workers at the site three days out of two weeks "and that was mostly to remove heavy equipment."

He said area residents need the bridge completed because of work being done on U.S. 72 and the upcoming work at Nance and Capshaw roads.

"We sort of need that bridge," he said. "It's supposed to be done in the summer, but now I'm wondering which summer."

The bridge project is expected to be completed in July, Madison County Engineer Richard Grace said Friday.

Grace said the project has been delayed, waiting on the state Department of Transportation to approve test results where ground water was struck on 11 of the 16 borings made for the bridge piers.

He said work was expected to resume on the project no later than Monday.

The road has been closed to through traffic between U.S. 72 and Capshaw Road since last fall to replace the bridge located about one-half mile north of U.S. 72.

The state DOT awarded Miller & Miller Inc. an $887,468 contract for the work.

James Road closing

James Road in Big Cove will be closed to through traffic most of the day Monday for crews to install underground storm drainage pipes, the city Engineering Department said in a news release.

The road, which is north of Sutton Road and east of Old Big Cove Road, will be closed at 8:30 a.m. for the installation of drainage pipes under the road in front of New Salem Baptist Church at 314 James Road. The road will reopen at 5 p.m..

Construction will continue at that location for two weeks. The work will require some temporary lane closings during that time.

To leave a comment or question about traffic or roads, contact Keith Clines at 256-532-4236, email keith.clines@htimes.com, tweet @KeithClines or fax 256-532-4420.